My column from Monday on Dan Kimballs new book, Adventures in Churchland. In short: buy this book for everyone you know who’s left and fed-up with the Church
“Yeah, the church is messed up!” (Actually, she used a different word for ‘messed,’ which I’ll allow you to fill-in-the-blank on that one yourself!)
What a great way to begin a conversation about my future profession as a pastor! Perhaps you’ve had the same reaction when you’ve talked with people about what you do as a pastor, or what you’re passionate about doing with your free-time as a student ministry group leader.
That’s what Beth (not her real name) said when I confirmed the rumor running around the Starbucks I moonlighted at while in seminary. She asked if I was studying to be a pastor and I replied with a hesitant “sort of,” because I had some sense of her relationship with the Church and wanted to be careful about how I talked about my hopes and dreams for my life in ministry. I mentioned how I myself had been frustrated with the Church and hoped to cultivate an alternative expression of the Church.
That’s when she offered her own analysis of the Church. And that’s when I wished I had Dan Kimball’s latest book, Adventures in Churchland, to give her.
Beth had grown up in the Church, and unfortunately she experienced what many others like her who have left the Church have experienced: judgement, stifling legalism, and off-putting hypocrisy. And this is what led Beth to leave the church post-high school and come to the conclusion that the Church is messed up.
Here’s the thing: she’s not alone.
